Railway-switch alarm



3 SheetsSheet 1.

(No Model.)

A., PEVEY.

RAILWAY SWITCH ALARM.

Patented Jan. 5, 1886.

W H112 5 5 E 5 Pholwulho n her, Washington, 04 Q (No Model.) 3 SheetS-Sheet 2.

A. PEVEYI RAILWAY SWITCH ALARM. No. 333,665. Patented Jan. 5,1886.

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A. PEVEY. 4

RAILWAY SWITCH ALARM. No. 333,665. Patented Jan; 5, 1886.

.UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ABIEL PEVEY, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

RAILWAY-SWITCH ALARM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 333,665, dated January5,1886.

Application filed October 22, 1881. Serial No. 44,351.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ABIEL PEVEY, of Lowell, in the county of Middlesexand Common wealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Railway- Switch Alarms, of which the following is aspecification.

. My invention relates to devices by means of which the fact of amisplaced switch will be indicated to the engineer of a locomotiveengineby an audible signal produced on or within the cab of such locomotive inseason to stop the engine before reaching such switch.

In theaccoinpanying drawings, Figure l is a general perspective view ofa railway track with branches and switches, the cab of alocomotive-engine on said track, the battery, wires, and circuit-closingdevices herein described. Fig. 2 is a detached view of a gong, hammer,and spring, such as is attached'to said cab. Fig. 3 shows the track,switches, bell-crank levers, rods, and the circuit-closers, which areoperated by the switches. Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of the bell-cranklever and a part of the connecting-rod and a part of the vertical rod.Fig. 5 is an enlarged perspec tive view of the drop, weighted lever,catches, electro magnet, armature, and connected parts, the drop beingraised. Fig. 6 is a front elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 5, thedrop being down in a position to ring the gong on a locom otive-cabpassing on the track below said drop, the cab and track being alsoshown. Fig. 7 is an oblique view of the top of the cab and of themechanism used to close the circuit by the passing of the cab. Figs. 8and 9 are elevations of modifications of the devices shown in Fig. 5,the drop being raised in Fig. 8 and being down in Fig. 9, and devicesfor setting the alarm.

A represents the main track, A and A being switch-rails of the same, andB and C are branch tracks or sidiugs. Thelocomotivecab D is supposed tobe moving from right to left over the main track, except in Fig. 6,where the cab is represented as moving directly away from the observer.The tracks are switched in the usual manner by switches E of theordinary construction, which move the free (or left) ends of theswitch-rails, the other ends of said switch-rails being station- (Nomodel.)

ary. The free end of each switch-rail is connected by the rod F F to abell-crank, F F, turning upon a pivot, F F. A vertical rod, F F, ispivoted to each of the bell-cranks F F; hence the operation of theswitches E E raises or lowers the rods F F.

G is a galvanic battery, one pole of which is connected with the groundby the wire G, the other pole being connected with one end of the wire Gthe other end of said wire Gr being unconnected.

G G are branches of the wire G and terminate in steel or other metallicsprings, G5 G which run through holes in the rods F F, near the top ofsaid rods, so that the free ends of said springs are raised or loweredby the abovedescribed operation of the switchesE E. The wire H has asmany branches H H" as there are switches E E to be used in connectionwith it, and these branches are of such a length and position that theraising or lowering of the rods F F will bring the ends of the springs GG into or out of contact with the ends of said branches H H that is,when the tracks and switches are in the position shown in Fig. 3,raising the rod F will bring the spring Gr into contact with the end ofbranch H, while raising the rod F (by setting the misplaced switch E soas to make the main track A continuous) will throw the spring G out ofcontact with the branch H. When the main line A is open throughout,there will be no contact between either spring G G and the correspondingbranch, H H, and of course when either switch is misplaced there will bea connection between the wire H and the battery G through the wire G Itis well to inclose the tops of the rods F F, the springs G G", and thebranches H H in the box H to secure them from the weather and to preventtheir being tampered with.

The wire H runs along the track to an alarmstation at L, (which stationshould be far enough from the switches to allow of the trains beingstopped, if the proper signal is made at such station, before reachingthe misplaced switch,) and runs far enough beyond said station L toallow of the drop falling before the train (approaching from the rightof the drawings in Figs. 1 and 3) can reach said station after closingthe circuit at H, as hereinafter described. The wire H terminates in aspring, H similar to those above described, within a box, H used for asimilar object to that for which the box H is used. At right angles tosaid spring H is a horizontal shaft, 1, sup ported and turning in thebox H and in an arm, 1 projecting from said box H This shaft has an arm,1, projecting from it, which reaches under or around the spring H, and.

another arm, I, hanging vertically beneath said shaft in a position tobe struck by the projection D on the cab D. The projection D may berigidly affixed to the side of the cab, as in Figs. 1 and 7, or on thetop of the edge of the roofof said cab, as in Fig. 6; or, instead ofbeing rigidly secured to the cab, may be removable or adapted to bedrawn in flush with the side or top of the cab when the engine isengaged in shifting. Vhen the projection D strikes the arm 1', the shaft1 rocks, and the other arm, 1 of said shaft depresses the spring H (seeFig. 7) down upon the end of the wire J, so that if the wires G and Hare also connected the wire J is connected with the battery G. The wireJ runs back from the box 11 to the alarm-station L, and thence to theground, as shown in Fig. 1, forming with the wires G G H an opencircuit, to be closed only by the misplacing of the switch E or E andthe rocking of the shaft 1. The wire J is properly connected with thespools L of an electro-magnet, L, so that when the circuit is closed thearmature L is attracted by the magnet and draws with it the spring L,secured at its lower end to the box or station L. The spring L isprovided with a catch, L; but the spring and armature may be the samepiece, (L in Figs. 8 and 9,) in which case the wire or cord L whichconnects them, (if made of separate pieces,) may be dispensed with. Athree-armed lever, L", is pivoted to the station L at L", so that, ifallowed to do so, the

weighted arm L will fall forward, throwing the second arm, L backagainst the top of the lever L", causing the latter to turn upon itslower pivoted end and to draw the sliding rod L. The rod L is supportedby the bracket L and by the side of the frame L, and has a loop, L,which rests against the lever L, and causes the rod L to move when saidlever is moved. The drop L consists of a rod weighted at its lower end,L, and sliding vertically in the frame L, secured to the box L. The dropL has a notch, into which the front end of the sliding rod L enters(when the drop is raised, as shown in Figs. 5 and 8,) to support saiddrop, because said sliding rod L is drawn toward the drop by the springL, which is a spiral wire spring, connected at one end to the slidingrod L and at the other end to the frame L Evidently, when the circuit isclosed by the means aforesaid, the armature is drawn to the right, Figs.5, 6, 8, 9, releasing the arm L of the lever L*, which lever, beingover-balanced by its weighted arm L throws its arm L in such a manner asto draw back the slide L and allow the drop to fall and remain in aposition to strike and draw back a hammer-lever, D, pivoted on the sideof the cab D, as the latter passes on the track below, which lever D,being released as the cab passes farther along, is drawn by the springD, so that the front end of said lever D strikes the gong D (alsosupported on the side of the cab D) and Warns the engineer that theswitch E or E is misplaced. The lever D, instead of ringing the gong,might be connected by a cord to the whistle, so as to sound the same bythe pulling of the cord.

In Figs. 8 and 9, raising the drop L" also raises a clutch, L supportedupon an arm. L projecting fro m said drop, and thereby lifts thevertically-sliding bent rod L, because the clutch engages with theenlarged button L upon the lower end of said rod L. The clutch is of theform commonly used in pile-drivers, and consists, as shown, of twolevers pivoted to each other and to the arm L, and has at the lower endinward projections, which, the

clutch being spread apart by falling down upon the double-inclinedbutton L, are brought nearly together under said button, the under sideof said button being flat. Raising the drop L high enough, the upperends of the clutch If are brought together by striking the inclines L,which disengages the clutch from the button and allows the rod L tofall; but the rod L when raised, strikes a fourth arm, L of the lever Land brings the arm L under the catch L when the alarm is ready for use.

It will be seen that to complete the circuit there must be a misplacedswitch at the time when the connection is made between the wires J andH, and that if the projection D be removed or drawn out of the way ofthe arm 1* there will be no action at the alarnrstation L; also, thatthe arm 1 and the drop L are placed so near the edge of the track and ofthe cars as not to interfere with persons whose business requires themto walk on the top of the cars; also, that any number of switches placednear to each other may be put in the relations above described with asingle alarm station, L; also, that the alarm might, on the principle ofthe devices herein described, be used to indicate to the ear or to theeye that the switch was properly placed.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination of the drop provided with anotch, the sliding piece adapted to enter said notch, the armature of anelectro-magnet, and means for connecting the same with said slidingpiece, and the lever, spring, and gong supported upon the cab of alocomotive, as and for the purpose specified.

2. In combination with the wires G G H J and stationary battery G andcircuit-closer of the open electrical circuit, a railway-switch, E, andconnecting mechanism, a locomotivecab, D, provided with a projection, D,and mechanism for connecting the same with said wires to close saidcircuit by the operation of said switch and by the movement of said cab,as herein described.

3. In an electric signaling apparatus for railways, a drop, and means,substantially as described, whereby, upon the closing of an electriccircuit by the misplacement of a switch and by the subsequent approachof a locomotive toward said switch, said drop will be caused to fallinto a position to be struck by alever pivoted on said locomotive and todraw said lever back against the resistance of a spring, the subsequentcontraction of which spring will draw forward said lever against a gongsecured to said locomotive in combination with said lever, gong, andspring, as and for the purpose specified.

4. In an electric signaling apparatus for railways, a drop provided witha notch, the

slide adapted to enter said notch, the electromagnet, the armature, theweighted lever held in position by said armature and released upon theclosing of the circuit by the misplacement of a switch and by thesubsequent approach of a locomotive toward saidlswitch, the leverpivoted upon said locomotive adapted to engage with said drop, wherebythe lever will be drawn back against the resistance of a spring,thesubsequent contraction of which spring will draw forward said leveragainst a gong secured to said locomotive, in combination with saidlever, gong, and spring, as and for the purpose specified.

ABIEL PEVEY. itnesses:

ALBERT M. MOORE, EDWARD W. THOMPSON.

